THE 



FIRST ANNUAL REFORT 



OF THE 



OF 



THE SOCIETY 



FOR 



THE PROMOTION 



OF 




asrsniE^ASj aMipm©^®M®srs 



IN THE 



COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

PRINTED BY JOSEPH R. A. SKERRETT. 

18S6. 



^>"!'. 



C..V" 



^h-^ 



u 



REPORT. 



THE Acting Committee of "The Pennsylvania 
Society for the promotion of Internal Improvement in 
the Common w^ealth,'^ beg leave to present their first 
annual report to the Society. 

Before entering upon a detail of the proceedings of 
the committee since their appointment, they ask leave 
to offer their congratulations upon the favourable dis- 
positions which have been manifested in every part of 
the state to the cause of internal improvements ; upon 
the progress and extent of sound opinions among our 
fellow citizens, in relation to those great interests, and 
upon the measures, which, by the authority of the state 
legislature, have been in active execution during the 
past season, to ascertain by surveys and careful explo- 
rations, under the supervision of a competent and 
highly respectable Board of Commissioners, the capa- 
city of the country through which it must pass for a 
connection between the eastern and western waters ; 
and to determine, by accurate levels, the particular 
character of every route which has been suggested, as 
the means of this connection. 

The Committee have been assured, that at such a 
period, in the present session of the legislature as will 
enable that body to act effectively upon this great ob- 
ject, the Commissioners will make a report, which 
will contain sufficient and correct materials for legis- 
lation in relation to its subject. The feelings, and the 
wishes, and the interests, of the whole commonwealth, 
are, with an almost unanimous voice, prepared to sane- 



( * ) 

tion and support such proceedings of our lawgivers, as 
will authorize the commencement, and assure the com- 
pletion of this work. The correspondence of the Act- 
ing Committee, and other means which they possess 
to ascertain the state of public opinion upon the ques- 
tion whether Pennsylvania shall have a canal or rail- 
road, to unite the Ohio and the Lake with the Sus- 
quehanna and her capital ; enable and authorize the 
Committee to state that ^^ well done, ye good and faith- 
ful servants,'' will be the language of reception their 
representatives will hear from their constituents, on 
their return after having enacted such a law. 

The Committee acknowledge that in some parts of 
the state, individuals are yet found who do not unite' 
with the majority of the citizens of Pennsylvania in 
approving this purpose ; and that supposed rival in- 
terests, in other sections of the commonwealth, mani- 
fest themselves so as to induce an apprehension, that 
those who are thus influenced, are not the advocates 
of this great design. But of those who oppose the 
measure, the numbers diminish daily; and among those 
whose interests seemed, on a superficial examination, 
exposed to injury from its success, better views and 
sounder opinions are forming, and will ultimately have 
their full effect. 

It has become one of the fondest sources of honour- 
able pride among the citizens of Pennsylvania, that 
her internal improvements, although not always of the 
most judicious and profitable kind, are more extensive 
than those of any of her sister states ; that they have 
been spread through almost every part of her vast and 
fertile country; and that they have been accomplished 
by the joint and concurrent contributions of her liberal 
legislatures, and her public- spirited citizens. It is al- 



( 5 ) 

most universally admitted^ among her attached citi- 
zens, that but one more work is wanted to make Penn- 
sylvania as great a state as any in the confederacy — 
to unite her people in one indissoluble bond of prospe- 
rity and sentiment, to make all parts of the common- 
wealth one flourishing and inseparable Whole; and that 
the means to accomplish these invaluable purposes, are 
the junction of Lake Erie, the Ohio, the Alleghany, 
the Susquehanna, and the Delaware, by such cheap 
and accessible facilities of transport and intercourse, as 
will enable the productions of all the vast regions of her 
rich and populous country, upon those waters, to find 
an Atlantic market, and will allow their owners to re- 
ceive in return the manufactures and the commercial 
commodities which they require, and which they will 
thus become fully competent to purchase. 

There is another subject upon which the Committee 
will also take leave to offer their sincere congratula- 
tions to the friends of internal improvement and to the 
members of the Society. It is that the navigation of 
every one of the great rivers of the state for steam-boats 
is now fully and decidedly ascertained to be within 
the power of the state. By the construction and em- 
ployment of " the Codorus'^ upon the Susquehanna, 
this most important fact has been established; and thus 
our rivers will be restored to that rank, in the estima- 
tion of the citizens of the commonwealth, to which 
they have always been entitled, but of which a neglect 
of their capacity for improvement and to be constantly 
employed, had almost deprived them. 

Looking to Europe for science and experience in 
works of intercommunication, and particularly to Eng- 
land; and deriving from her much valuable know- 
ledge, we have too readily adopted the suggestions of 



( 6 ) 

her engineers, that ^* rivers should only be used as in- 
struments to accomplish other modes of navigation.'^ 
But to those enlightened and distinguished men, to 
Brindley, the father of those principles, rivers^ as they 
are found in our country f IV ere unknown. The nar- 
row, yet deep rivulets of England, dignified there with 
the appellation of rivers, have no similitude to the 
broad, and extended, and plentiful waters of Pennsyl- 
vania, passing through her territories in different 
courses more than one thousand miles ; breaking 
through her mountains, and yet preserving so easy 
and regular a descent towards the ocean, as to make 
their use in their natural state, at some seasons of the 
year, perfectly safe and easy, and at other seasons, 
capable of such improvements as will render them na- 
vigable for steam-boats. In our state it therefore never 
should be said, that the Alleghany, the Susquehanna, 
the Juniata, and the Delaware, were only " intended''^ 
by the Grod of Nature "to feed navigable canals.^^ 

The rivers of Pennsylvania restored to their proper 
estimation, improved by legislative bounty and protec- 
tion, or by the profitable investment of state treasure, 
will become the surest means by which all the citizens 
of the commonwealth will be made partakers in the 
great state work, about, as we confidently trust and 
believe, to be entered upon. Our rivers being made 
navigable for steam-boats, the inhabitants of the upper 
branches of the Delaware and the Susquehanna, of the 
Alleghany and the Juniata, will participate extensively 
and equally in all the means of intercourse Mdth other 
parts of the state, which the completion of that work 
will certainly furnish. Thus will this great state im- 
provement become a common highway for every citizen 
of the commonwealth 5 and its benefits, like the property 



( 7 ) 

tbe state will hold in it^ will be equally divided among 
us all. 

It will be in the recollection of the members of the So- 
ciety, that the first meeting to form the present associa- 
tion was held upon the 26th of November, 1824. Then 
it was first resolved to form ^^ a society for the promotion 
of internal improvement in the commonwealth ;'^ and as 
soon after that meeting as the fourteenth of December^ 
in the same year, the Society was organized, its con- 
stitution adopted ; and the officers appointed ; and by 
one of the provisions of the constitution, this day, the 
first Wednesday in January^ 1826, and annually here- 
after, becomes the anniversary of the Society; upon 
which its officers are to be elected, and its arrange- 
ments formed for the promotion of the purposes of the 
association. 

Since its formation, the Society has consisted of 
forty-eight actual members, and it includes in its list 
of honorary members, some of the most liberal and ac- 
tive friends of internal improvement in the United 
States, as well as gentlemen distinguished for science 
and public spirit in other countries. It is one of the 
best attributes of the cause in which we are engaged, 
that it knows no limits from country or from clime ; and 
free from fetters as the great ocean, with which its 
main object is to establish an easy intercourse, its ad= 
vocates and its friends are found in every nation ; hold- 
ing in unison the same liberal feelings, and animated 
by the same desires for the happiness of the whole fa- 
mily of mankind. 

The receipts of the society since its formation, have 
amounted to S 5540. This sum was the product of the 
contributions of forty- eight members and of donations 
by public- spirited citizens and liberal corporations. 



( 8 ) 

As soon as the Society was organized, and its officers 
appointed, the Acting Committee entered on a vigorous 
and industrious prosecution of the duties assigned to 
it, and of the plans which appeared to the Committee 
best calculated to further the purposes of the Institu- 
tion, the promotion of internal improvements in the 
commonwealth. 

A circular letter, stating the objects for which the 
Society had been formed, inviting the co-operation and 
aid of the citizens of the state for the accomplishment 
of those objects, and soliciting communications and cor- 
respondence, was transmitted to every part of Pennsyl- 
vania. It was the earnest wish and expectation of the 
Acting Committee, that an increase of the influence and 
capacity of the Society to do good through the com- 
monwealth, would be obtained, by enlisting among its 
members the many enlightened and public- spirited ci- 
tizens, who are to be found in every section of our 
country. The common tie of membership would have 
produced unity of action and of design ; and thus have 
strengthened and extended the powers of the Society. 
These eflPorts have not been attended with the expect- 
ed results : but the Committee do not yet doubt, that 
much will be accomplished in this respect by the exer- 
tions they have made. The most friendly feelings and 
most favourable dispositions, are entertained towards 
the Society in all parts of the state ; and although the 
number of its members has not been augmented, an ac- 
tive, unremitting, and widely beneficial co-operation 
in all the views of the Society, has been every where 
manifested. 

As early as December, 1834, the Committee prepar- 
ed and forwarded to Harrisburg, a petition to the le- 
gislature, praying for the establishment of a ^' Board 



( 9 ) 

of Public Works," similar to those of the states of Vir- 
ginia and North and South Carolina. That this most 
important object has not been obtained, is by no means 
an indication of an unfriendly disposition towards it 
in our legislature. It is not doubted, that when our 
plans of internal improvement are systematized and se- 
lected, and the great work of connecting the eastern and 
western waters shall be determined upon ; the wisdom 
of our legislature will make so liberal a provision for 
the establishment of a Board of Public Works, as will 
authorize the executive to confide the important duties 
of such a board to judicious and competent persons. 
The selection of eminent citizens as Canal Commis- 
sioners, justifies the belief that the board will be proper- 
ly composed by the appointing constitutional power.. 

As means of spreading information on internal im- 
provements, and to promote sound opinions in relation 
to them, the Acting Committee have, since their organi- 
zation, published and circulated through the state, a 
variety of papers upon Turnpike Roads, Canals, and 
Railways. 

As it was the duty of the Committee to abstain from 
the expression of a preference for any plans of im- 
provement, they have carefully avoided so doing. They 
have endeavoured to place established facts before the 
public in an impartial form ; and they have invited and 
encouraged examination and investigation of the 
merits and advantages of canals and railways, and 
of other modes of communication, by every means in 
their power. In their efforts to disseminate informa- 
tion, they have had the liberal assistance of many of 
the journals which are published in the interior, and 
of most of those of the city of Philadelphia. It would 
be a denial of justice to the editors of Tlie United States 



( 10 ) 

Gazette, were the Committee to withhold a particular 
notice of the prompt and continued aid in the cause of 
internal improvement they have received from them. 

The Committee were specially instructed^ by a resolu- 
tion of the Society, adopted on the 19th day of January, 
1825, to apply for a charter of incorporation, and this 
injunction was forthwith complied with. A bill to incor- 
porate the Society was reported in both houses of the 
legislature; but it did not pass into a law in conse- 
quence of the pressure of other business, having prior 
claims upon the consideration of those respectable bo- 
dies. 

On the 19th of January, 18:35, the Society resolved 
^^ That it is expedient to send an agent to Europe, to. 
" collect information of all the valuable improvements 
" in the construction of canals, roads, railways, bridges, 
'' steam-engines, and all other information calculated ' 
" to promote the objects of the Society.'^ 

This resolution having been referred to the Acting 
Committee, it immediately received their fullest consi- 
deration and attention. 

Under an expectation that the government of the 
United States, then actively engaged in prosecuting 
inquiries upon subjects connected with the internal 
improvement of the country, would be disposed to avail 
itself of the opportunities of obtaining practical infor- 
mation in Europe, which the inquiries of an intelli- 
gent and competent agent would aflPord ; and believing 
that for the accomplishment of so important an object, 
the Engineer department would, under the authority 
of the then Chief Magistrate, be willing to contribute 
to the expenses of such a mission ; the Committee ad- 
dressed a letter to the head of that department, sub- 
mitting to him the measure, then under the considera- 
tion of the Society. It is with regret the Committee 



• ( 11 ) 

are compelled to state, that this communication did not 
receive the least notice or attention ; and that there was 
not then manifested in favour of the views and pur- 
poses of the Society, that friendly disposition and fos- 
tering kindness, which the Committee will have the 
satisfaction to acknowledge and record in a subsequent 
part of this report. 

Upon the 3d day of February, 1825, the Society 
appointed William Strickland, Esq. their agent in 
Europe, assigned to him an adequate compensation, 
and determined upon the period of his departure. 

Upon the Acting Commfttee devolved the important 
and responsible duty of preparing the instructions of 
Mr. Strickland. The judicious selection of a gentle- 
man for this mission, of whose competency every one 
had the fullest belief, and who enjoyed the confidence 
and respect of the community, rendered this duty less 
difficult than it would otherwise have been ; and the 
Committee received from Mr. Strickland every assist- 
ance in its performance. 

In order to obtain as much information as possible 
on the subjects upon which the inquiries of the agent 
of the Society would be most advantageously prose- 
cuted, and to afford to all who should desire to profit 
by the purpose of the Society, the fullest opportunities 
to promote their views, " Heads^^ of the subjects for 
the attention of Mr. Strickland while abroad, were 
printed, and transmitted to every person, and to every 
public body who were supposed to be interested therein ; 
and they were earnestly invited to assist the Commit- 
tee by suggesting any additions to, or alterations in the 
same. After every effort had been made to invite and 
collect proper materials, the instructions of Mr. Strick- 
land were prepared and submitted to the Society, and 
upon the 17th day of March, 18S5, they were approv- 



( 13 ) • 

ed, and ordered to be signed by the President of the 
Society, and by the Acting Committee. A copy of these 
instructions accompany, and are deemed a necessary 
part of, this report. 

At the same meeting of the Society, one hundred 
pounds sterling were ordered to be placed in the hands 
of Mr. Strickland " for obtaining correct informa- 
" tion relative to the smelting of iron,'^ and an equal 
sum was directed to be employed by him " in the 
^^ purchase of memoirs, publications, models and 
'^ drawings of useful machines, and authentic infor- 
" mation on all subjects," a knowledge of which in 
'^ this country he might deem importaut.^^ The So- 
ciety had, at a previous meeting, resolved to contribu^te 
to the expenses of Mr. Samuel Kneass, a young gen- 
tleman of considerable talents and promise, the pupil 
of Mr. Strickland, who was to accompany him in his 
visit to Europe, and whose assistance was considered 
by the Society beneficial to the objects of the mission 
of his instructor. 

One of the members of the committee, having taken 
advantage of the occasion, oflPered by his being at 
Washington on the 4th of March last, to communicate 
to the President of the United States, the intention of 
the Society to send an agent to Europe, to collect in- 
formation upon subjects connected with internal im- 
provements; the most friendly dispositions towards 
their purpose were expressed by the Chief Magistrate; 
and assurances were received that the agent of the So- 
ciety would be furnished from the Department of 
State with letters to the public agents of the govern- 
ment, recommending him and the objects of his mission 
to their protection and care. An application for these 
letters was met with the utmost promptitude by the Ho- 
nourable Henry Clay, the Secretary of State; and Mr. 



* ( 13 ) 

Strickland was furnished with a general introduction 
to the public agents of the United States, requesting 
their kindest offices in his favour. 

Mr. Strickland and Mr. Kneass sailed from Phila- 
delphia for Liverpool on the SOth of March, 18S5. 

The proceedings of Mr. Strickland during his ab- 
sence, the information communicated by him, and the 
circumstances of his agency and return, will be here- 
after stated. 

It will be in the recollection of the members of the 
Society, that early in the past year, at the suggestion 
of this Society, a meeting of the citizens of the City 
and County of Philadelphia was held, at which it 
was determined to petition the legislature, in favour 
of constructing a canal at the expense of the state, 
to connect the Alleghany and Lake Erie with the 
eastern waters of Pennsylvania. Similar petitions 
from every part of the state were recommended, in 
emphatic terms, at that meeting; and a committee of 
twenty-four, comprised of many of our most respecta- 
ble citizens of the county and city, was appointed to 
promote that object, and the great interests of the state, 
by eflPorts in favour of internal improvements. 

The measures preparatory to that meeting, and the 
arrangements which were adopted at it, had the sup- 
port and were assisted by the exertions of the Acting 
Committee ; and as soon as it had been determined by 
the meeting that the whole state should be invited to 
petition the legislature in favour of a Grand Pennsyl- 
vania Canal, the Committee took upon themselves to 
further the adoption and execution of that suggestion, 
by a most active correspondence with every part of the 
state, and by forwarding printed petitions to many of 
the known friends of improvement in every county in 
the commonwealth. 



( 14 ) 

The Committee do not claim^ that the universal ex- 
pression of the wishes of Pennsylvania in favour of 
measures for internal improvement by the legislature, 
M^as the result of their efforts. Proud of their co-ope- 
ration vjrith the members of the committee of twenty- 
four in the labours which contributed, and in all pro- 
bability produced that state of public opinion ; they only 
desire to report to the Society their performance of the 
duties entrusted to them. 

A public- spirited citizen, while a member of the 
Committee of twenty-four, proposed that a Convention 
on Internal Improvement should be held, and that de- 
legates from every part of the state should be invited 
to attend the same at Harrisburg. This proposition 
was highly satisfactory to the Committee, and a dis- 
position to promote the measure, and procure its adop- 
tion throughout the commonwealth, was immediately 
avowed in their correspondence and publications. The 
Society, at a meeting held upon the 6th of April, ap- 
proved of the calling a convention on internal im- 
provement, and the Acting Committee were specially 
instructed, to aid the Committee of twenty-four in 
promoting the measure. 

After the Committee of twenty-four had determined 
to recommend a convention, the Acting Committe en- 
tered upon the most extensive means to secure the suc- 
cess of the proposition. An address to the citizens of 
the state, prepared by one of the members of the Com- 
mittee, was circulated, and letters soliciting the active 
assistance and co-operation of every advocate and sup- 
porter of internal improvement, were addressed to the 
post- masters, and to every distinguished individual 
whose name was in possession of the Committee. 

Explicitly disavowing all claims to the original me- 



( 15 ) 

fits of the proposition, the Committee freely became 
the agents to further its adoption, and it is a sufficient 
reward of their exertions that the end was accomplished. 
The convention of Harrisburg, and its proceedings, 
will form a bright page in the history of Pennsylva- 
nia. That assembly was composed of gentlemen of the 
most distinguished talents and of the most honourable 
purposes. Uninfluenced by local feelings; unmindful 
of all local interests ; the good, the prosperity, and the 
happiness of the whole commonwealth was their sole 
end and purpose ; and with a wisdom and foresight, 
which will at a future day enroll the members of the 
convention among the founders ofthe wealth and power 
and greatness of Pennsylvania, they 

^''Resolved, That the improvement of the Commonwealth will 
** be best promoted, and the foundations of her prosperity and 
*' happiness most securely established, by opening an entire and 
"complete communication from the Susquehanna to the Alleg- 
" hany and Ohio, and from the Alleghany to Lake Erie, by the 
"nearest and best practicable routes and that such a work is in- 
<«dispensably necessary to maintain the character and standing of 
'*the state, and to preserve her strength and resources." 

In favour of the internal improvement of the state, 
the sentiments of the members of the convention were 
unanimous. A very small minority differed with the 
majority, as to the manner and the time for the 
commencement and attainment of this object ; for the 
ultimate promotion of which they declared and re- 
corded by their votes, their most decided and friendly 
wishes. The legislature of Pennsylvania have, in the 
proceedings of that convention, the fullest evidence of 
the desire of the whole commonwealth, for the imme- 
diate adoption of effective measures to execute the pur- 
poses which that convention has declared; will best 



( 16 ) 

promote her interest, and the attainment of which has 
been avowed to be within her power and her means. 

Early in the past year, the subject of a geological 
survey of the state of Pennsylvania, was submitted to 
the consideration of the Society by the Acting Com- 
mittee. Its high importance, its intimate connection 
with the cause and interests of internal improvement, 
its certain development of the rich mineral treasures of 
our state, and its boundless contribution to the wealth 
and prosperity of the commonwealth, were at once 
seen by the Society, and the proposition obtained the 
full approbation of the members. 

In order to carry the design into the most advan- 
tageous execution, the Committee deemed it proper to. 
communicate their views to the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of the city of Philadelphia. That institution, 
composed of gentlemen justly distinguished for their 
attainments in the natural sciences, and peculiarly 
competent to digest and arrange the proper plans for 
carrying such a survey into execution, as well as to se- 
lect the agents who should be entrusted with it ; was 
invited to co-operate with the Committee in the mea- 
sure. The most friendly dispositions, and an ample 
tender of their assistance, were promptly received from 
the Academy, and the Acting Committee have autho- 
rity to assure the Society, that every reliance may be 
placed on the Academy ; for all aid we ought to ask 
from them for the accomplishment of the proposed sur- 
vey, when we shall determine to undertake the same. 

But the Acting Committee were restrained from en- 
tering upon definitive measures to obtain such a sur- 
vey by the diminished state of the funds of the Socie- 
ty ; and although they are satisfied that no undertak- 
ing would be more important, none more productive of 



( 17 ) 

rich rewards to the state and nation, the execution of 
the plan must be suspended until pecuniary means 
shall be obtained to defray the expenses which will 
attend it. The completion of a survey, which would 
comprehend a minute and careful examination of every 
section of the state, and a chemical analysis of all our mi- 
nerals, the whole to be executed by gentlemen of entire 
fitness for the trust, would not exceed in cost the sum of 
three thousand dollars. If the importance and value of 
the object were sufficiently known and understood at 
the seat of government, it is not doubted that the legis- 
lature would promote its attainment by a liberal dona- 
tion. 

The Committee now enter upon the most pleasing 
of their duties, in recording the proceedings of the agent 
of the Society, during his absence in Europe on the 
trust assigned him. A liberal and enlightened citi- 
zen has recently declared this mission to be " a more 
important embassy, than any we, (the nation,) support 
in Europe.'^ The Society and our country, we believe, 
will, at no distant day, find this high commendation 
justified by the benefits the community will derive 
from the efficient labours of Mr. Strickland. 

Immediately upon his landing, Mr. Strickland enter- 
ed upon the duties with which he was charged ; and 
during the whole period of his absence, his diligence 
and industry, and untired activity, were exclusively de- 
dicated to the collection of the information, and the ac- 
complishment of the objects, to which he was pledged. 

It is a just tribute, and one which is rendered with 
peculiar satisfaction to those who are so well entitled to 
it, to state to the Society, that from every gentleman of 
science find attainments in those branches of knowledge 
and the arts which are particularly connected with civil 

3 



( 18 ) 

engineering, Mr. Strickland received the most liberal 
and extensive assistance. The bureaus of the Bri- 
tish engineers of the first rank and acknowledged use- 
fulness, the cabinets of men of science in England, 
Ireland, and Scotland, were freely thrown open to 
him ; and all they had acquired by diligent study and 
experiment, all they had done in the erection of the 
great works which are the just and merited pride of 
those countries, and the principal sources of their 
wealth and prosperity, were placed at his disposal. 
Science and philosophy, and the liberal arts, are usually 
found in the possession of men of enlarged and expand- 
ed views and of the most generous purposes. It is one 
of the best effects of knowledge and intelligence, that 
they liberalize the heart, and unshackle it from the in- 
fluence and pow er of prejudice, and from the bonds of 
local interests. The best and the most pleasing testi- 
mony of the truth of these principles, has been exhibited 
by the conduct of the engineers of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, to Mr. Strickland. 

The first subjects to which the Agent of the Society 
w^as directed to give his attention, was the construction, 
and use, and expense of railways. As means of exten- 
sive intercommunication, railways were at the time of 
the departure of Mr. Strickland unknown in the United 
States ; and at the period of his arrival in England their 
advocates were actively engaged in recommending their 
adoption, for general transportation, in preference to ca- 
nals, to which they w ere said to be superior. The oppor- 
tunities for examination and inquiry in relation to them 
were therefore all that he could desire; and of these Mr. 
Strickland immediately availed himself to procure accu- 
rate information upon all and every matter connected 
with the making, the employment, and the cost of rail- 



X 



( 19 ) 

ways. In the prosecution of these investigations, and to 
test by actual examination and observation, the princi- 
ples and statements of the friends and of the opponents 
of railways, Mr. Strickland visited England, Scot- 
land, and Wales; and in August the Society received 
his report, dated June 5, 18S5, containing the infor- 
mation he had collected, accompanied with plans 
and drawings of railways, of almost every form then 
in use or in contemplation in England and Scotland. 
It is not permitted to the Committee, to enter into a 
minute exhibition of the contents of this, or of any of 
the reports of the agent of the Society. Those reports 
have been minutely examined by many of the members, 
and they have been freely communicated to every in- 
dividual who desired to inspect them. The Commit- 
tee, however, will assume to state, that, so comprehen- 
sive, so particular, and so full is the report of Mr. 
Strickland upon the construction, use, and expense of 
railways, and of the machinery employed upon them, 
that all which may be required for their introduction 
in our country, or to manifest and establish their com- 
petency for the purpose to which they are applicable, 
will be found in his report. By the acquisition of 
this knowledge of railways, which has been the conse- 
quence of the mission of Mr. Strickland, it is now as 
much in the power of our state, or of any individual 
or corporation, to erect and adopt a railway of the best 
or of any form of construction, as it would be were 
Wood, and Jesswp, and Hennie, and Telford, and 
Tredgold, to become resident citizens of the common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania. A working model of a loco- 
motive engine, on the most approved plan, and having 
a power equal to the strength of two men, was procur- 
ed by Mr. Strickland, and is in the possession of 



( 20 ) 

the Society. A machine so valuable, and of such as- 
tonishing competency for the purposes to which it 
may be applied, ought to be more generally known in 
our country. 

The next report received from Mr. Strickland was 
dated the 16th of June, 1825, which, as far as its con- 
tents are connected with railways^ may be considered 
as a supplement to the first report. It contains "ade^ 
scription of the Buke of Portland's tram-road,'' and 
a very particular and interesting account of the mode 
of coJcing bituminous coal, and of making cast and 
Mister steel. The drawings which accompany and 
form a part of this report, exhibit, in detail, the pro- 
cesses which are in successful use in England for the 
production and manufacture of the articles mentioned. 
To those sections of our country where bituminous 
coal abounds, and where no method of coking it for 
the purposes of smelting iron has yet been in success- 
ful operation, the plans of the ovens, by which this pro- 
cess is accomplished, may be essentially important; 
and the information communicated upon this grand de- 
sideratum in the making of iron in Western Penn- 
sylvania, may be employed to remove the difl&culties, 
which have hitherto baffled all the efforts of those who 
have endeavoured to use that coal in their smelting 
furnaces. 

In order to assist, and fully to explain the method 
employed in making cast and blister steel, this report 
contains plans and sections of the furnaces and instru- 
ments, used in the conversion of iron into those valua- 
ble articles. It will be for those whose pursuits and 
interests will induce them to examine these details, and 
who may wish to profit by them, to appreciate the ad- 
vantages to be derived from the matter contained in 



( SI ) 

this valuable treatise upon the making of cast and blis- 
ter steel, and its accompanying drawings. 

The report of the agent upon Turnpike -roads , is 
dated August 3, 1825. The matter contained in this 
report is of the most interesting kind, and it furnishes 
facts and suggestions for their advantageous use in the 
construction of roads, which, if employed, will be of 
the most extended usefulness. 

The whole method of Mr. M^Adam for improving 
roads, and the principles so successfully applied to 
them, are fully shown in this report. The plan upon 
which " the great government road from Hollyhead to 
London," is made, which Mr. Strickland pronounces 
^^ one of the smoothest and best in England," is par- 
ticularly described in it. This road is the work of 
Mr. Telford. 

On the 4th of September, from London Mr. Strick- 
land transmitted to the Society his ^' Report upon the 
manufacture of Iron, Oil and Coal Gas.^^ 

The materials of which this report is composed are 
interesting, and will no doubt be found highly useful. 
The manufacture of iron is, however, a subject not to 
be comprehended in the space of one report; nor will 
the Society find in this communication all the infor- 
mation upon this most important subject, the agency 
in England has secured for our country. Under the au- 
thority of the resolution of the Society, which gave him 
the privilege of appropriating one hundred pounds 
sterling, to inquiries upon the manufacture of iron, it 
is understood by the Committee, that a gentleman en- 
tirely fitted for the trust, is now engaged in preparing 
a report, which will contain full and perspicuous work- 
ing details of the numerous processes in smelting and 
preparing iron ; of the various and successful methods 



( S2 ) 

by which iron ores of different kinds are brought into 
profitable and uninterrupted use, and of the effectual 
and certain means of preparing bituminous coal, for its 
general employment in the manufacture of iron. 

But notwithstanding the acknowledged impossibility 
of comprehending all these useful matters in his report, 
Mr. Strickland has furnished, in reference to the ma- 
nufacture of iron, much valuable information ; and his 
plans and elevations of the most approved furnaces for 
the smelting of iron, ought to obtain the attention of 
the iron masters of our state. 

Upon Oil and Coal Gas, useful knowledge is com- 
municated; and the introduction of gas into our city, or 
its employment for lighting extensive manufactories, 
may be secured by the use of the materials exhibited 
in this report. 

The last information, in the form of a report, which 
was received from Mr. Strickland, is dated at London' 
on the 4th September, 18S5. This report is " Ujpon 
Canals.^^ 

It would require the talents and attainments of a 
civil engineer, to develope and exhibit as they deserve 
the contents of this communication. These are beyond 
the ability of the Acting Committee; but they will 
claim permission to state, that upon all the most im- 
portant subjects connected with the construction of a 
canal, upon the most approved methods of forming and 
using locks and embankments, upon the best modes of 
building aqueducts and culverts, and of forming tun- 
nels, and upon the most valuable and successful arts 
of securing such works from accidents and injury; the 
information contained in this report of the agent of the 
Society, appears abundant and all-sufficient. With 
this, as with all of his communications, are transmitted 



( 33 ) 

drafts and plans, and sections, and drawings of all the 
parts, and details of the works of which the report 
treats. These, like the working models of a skilful 
architect, will enable any one properly prepared by 
study and experience in the science of civil engineer- 
ing, to apply the information communicated in the re- 
port to immediate use and advantage. 

After the report upon canals was completed, Mr. 
Strickland was assiduously engaged in prosecuting in- 
quiries upon other subjects which had been given him 
in charge in his instructions. The information collect- 
ed by him in relation to these and other important mat- 
ters, has not yet been embodied in a form to be commu- 
nicated to the Society. Having, as he believed, accom- 
plished the objects of his appointment, and desirous of 
returning home at a period when the knowledge he had 
attained might be employed for the promotion of the 
great purposes of the Society, he left England, and ar- 
rived in Philadelphia in December. 

Since the return of Mr. Strickland, a letter has been 
received from him, dated at Liverpool on the 20th day 
of October, written in reply to a letter addressed to 
him by the Acting Committee, under date of Septem- 
ber 17th. The letter contains some important views 
of the use and employment of railways in Pennsylva- 
nia. These, together with extracts from the corres- 
pondence of the Acting Committee, have been publish- 
ed, and they accompany this report. 

Mr. Strickland is now engaged in a final report to 
the Society, in which he will no doubt communicate 
much important information, upon all the subjects which 
had his attention when absent. The Society have a 
right to expect much from him, upon those matters of 
which he has not yet treated in the reports received 



( 34 ) 

trom him. His obligations thus to complete his duties 
to the Society are acknowledged by him ; but he may 
not be able fully to comply with his own and their 
wishes for some time, in consequence of engagements 
of the utmost importance to the interests of the state. 
The Society will not refuse their consent to this post- 
ponement, as it is produced by Mr. Strickland's being 
now employed, under the Canal Commissioners, to as- 
sist in arranging the materials of their intended report 
to the legislature. » 

A most important and interesting question is ne- 
cessarily presented for the consideration of the So- 
ciety in consequence of their possession of the infor- 
mation contained in the reports of Mr. Strickland, 
and the obligation which arises therefrom to com- 
municate them to the public. Their publication is es- 
sential to their extended usefulness ; and yet the ex- 
pense of printing, the reports and engraving the plans 
and drawings, which form important parts of them, and 
without which they cannot be perfectly understood, 
will require an expenditure beyond the present means 
of the Society. Whether legislative and private aid 
for the purpose of making these reports public will be 
given, is not yet known. It would not become the So- 
ciety to solicit such aid, although if it were voluntarily 
tendered, it should not be refused. 

Subjoined to this communication is an accurate list 
of the publications and manuscripts, received from Mr. 
Strickland during his absence. 

Before the Committee bring this report to a conclu- 
sion, they ask leave to submit some considerations 
upon the present situation of the Society, and to sug- 
gest, respectfully, the means of increasing the number 
of its members, and thus augmenting its capacity for 



( 35 ) 

usefulness, and to promote the design for which its 
members associated. 

The funds of the Society will, from the report of the 
Treasurer, be found to be greatly reduced. Indeed its 
only certain additional pecuniary means, during the pre- 
sent year, must be derived from the annual contributions 
of its present members. The whole number of members 
of the Society is now forty-four, and the revenue of the 
Society, under its present constitution, will therefore, 
during the year, be but four hundred and forty dol- 
lars. This sum is altogether inadequate to accom- 
plish any of those purposes, which ought to command 
the attention of those who so anxiously desire to pro- 
mote the great cause of internal improvement. It will 
be sufficient for the common objects of the association, 
but the great and valuable purpose of a geological sur- 
vey of the state must be abandoned. Restricted to a 
narrow sphere of action, the Society will cease to be 
considered, as it now is, a great and powerful engine, 
to move the whole commonwealth forward in the cause 
of internal improvement, and to promote that object by 
a liberal and beneficial appropriation of pecuniary 
means, wherever they can be properly employed. 

The Committee respectfully submit to the Society, 
that as one of the great objects for which large con- 
tributions required from the members on their first 
associating has been fully accomplished ; as an agent 
has been employed in Europe, has been supported 
there at the expense of the Society, has been thus 
enabled to collect information of the highest value 
and importance, and has returned to the state; the 
continued demand of so large a sum on admission to 
the Society, seems no longer politic, just, or proper. 

A new era now commences ; one in which the So- 



( 26 ) 

ciety should desire to employ and disseminate the in- 
formation it has obtained, and in which its influence 
and usefulness should be increased by large additions 
to the members of which it is composed. 

It must be allowed that the demand of one hun- 
dred dollars upon admission, was only justified by the 
necessity of the occasion, and was vindicated by the 
absolute and immediate want of a sufficient fund to 
send and support an agent abroad. That this regula- 
tion excluded many gentlemen of the first qualifications, 
and of the best dispositions towards the cause in which 
the Society was engaged, was known to and painfully 
acknowledged by us all. However liberal and well 
disposed those gentlemen were, they may have pro- 
perly refused to bestow so large a sum on an object, in 
the attainment of which every citizen of the state had 
an equal interest, and to which all ought therefore to 
have contributed. 

Nor should it be charged to any other than these 
fair and just views of the subject, that the Society did 
not at an early period, enroll among its members many 
of our citizens, who have been found prompt and ready 
on many occasions, to dedicate no inconsiderable por- 
tion of their fortunes, to public, and charitable, and li- 
beral, and patriotic purposes. 

Others were prevented, by proper considerations, 
from abstracting so large a sum from their current 
means ; although their willingness to unite in the views 
of the Society were fully manifested, and their dispo- 
sitions to become members of an association for the 
same objects, and upon a scheme less costly, were 
openly declared. 

It is therefore inquired by the Committee, why a new 
organization of the Society shall not now be made, by 



( 27 ) 

which numbers of our fellow citizens, both in the ca- 
pital and in the country, will be induced to become its 
members, and by a limited annual payment, enable the 
Society to go on successfully in its march of useful- 
ness, and in the accomplishment of its objects. 

The present Society has not been incorporated. No 
obstacle therefore exists to the execution of the plan 
which the Committee now submit, and which, if ap- 
proved by the Society, may be confided to a Commit- 
tee to report thereon at a future stated meeting. 

MATHEW CAREY, 
RICHARD PETERS, Jun. 
WILLIAM LEHMAN, 
JOSEPH HEMPHILL, 
-' STEPHEN DUNCAN. 

Gerard Ralston, Corresponding Secretary. 

Philadelphia, Jan, 4, 1826. 



( 38 ) 

LIST 



OF J- 

BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS, AND OTHER ARTICLES, 

BEL0K6IKG TO 

THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF INTER- 
NAL IMPROVEMENT. 



Railways compared with Canals andComnion Roads, copied from 
the Scotchman Newspaper. Edinburg. Pamphlet, 66 pages, 1825. 

The Fingerpost, &c. being a discussion of the Rail way Question, 
by ??}. London. Pamphlet, 48 pages, 1825. 

Manuscript Report on Railways by W^illiam Strickland. Edin-. 
burg, June 5, 1825. 

Manuscript Report on the Duke of Portland's Trihn-Road, and 
on the manufacture of Coke, Blister and Cast Steel, by William 
Strickland. Glasgow, June 16, 1825. 

Manuscript Report on Turnpike Roads, by William Strickland. 
Bristol, August 3, 1825. 

Manuscript Report on the manufacture of Iron, Oil and Coal Gas, 
&c. by William Strickland. London, Sept. 4, 1825. 

Reports on Civil Engineering, by John Smeaton, 3 vols, 4to. 
London, 1812. 

Miscellaneous Papers, with 12 plates, by J. Smeaton, 1 vol. 4to. 
London, 1814. 

Theory and Practice of Gas Lighting, by T. S. Peckson, 1 vol. 
8v6. 2d edition. London, 1823. 

Practical Essays on Mill Work, &c. by Robertson Buchanan, 
with notes by Tredgold, 2nd edition. London, 1823, 2 vols. 8vo. 

Theory and Practice of Warming and Ventilating Houses, by an 
Engineer. London, 1825, 1 vol. 8vo. 

Practical Essay on the Strength of Cast Iron, &c. by Thomas 
Tredgold. London, 1824, 1 vol. 8vo. 

Principles of Warming and Ventilating Houses, by Thomas 
Tredgold. London, 1824, 1 vol. 8vo. 

Practical Treatise on Rail Roads and Carriages, by Thomas 
Tredgold, London, 1825, 1 vol. 8vo. 

Observations on the Rebuilding of London Bridge, by John Sea- 
ward. London, 1824, 1 vol. 8vo. 

Traite Theorique et Pratique, de I'Art de Batir, par J. Ronde- 
let, 6 vols. 4to. and 1 vol. of plates. Paris, 1812. 

Observations on a General Iron Railway, by Thomas Gray, 5th 
edition, 1 vol. 8vo. London, 1825. 



( S9 ) 

General Rules for Repairing Roads, by the Parliamentary Com- 
missioners, 1 vol. 8vo. London, 1823, 4th edition. 

Description of the Iron Bridges of Suspension, at Bangor, Con- 
way, &c. by T. G. Cumming. London, 1824, 1 vol. 8vo. Pam- 
phlet, 55 pages. 

Register of Arts and Sciences, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1824 and 5. 

Scientific Gazette, 7 first numbers, commencing July 2, 1825, 
ending August 13, 1825. 

Register of Arts and Sciences, two numbers, July 30th and Aug. 
12, 1825. 

Eleventh Report of the Commissioners for repair of Roads and 
Bridges in Scotland, folio, 21 pages, March 25, 1825. 

Report of the Berwick and Morpeth Road, folio, 8 pages with a 
map. May 5, 1825. 

First Report on the Road from London to Holyhead, May 13, 

1824. Folio, 39 pages. 

Second Report on the Road from London to Holyhead. Folio, 16 
pages. June 27, 1825. 

Report on the Shrewsbury and Holyhead Road. March 25, 1825. 
Folio, 11 pages. 

Estimates for the Holyhead and Howth Roads, March 25th, 

1825. Folio, 3 pages. 

Twenty-second Caledonian Canal Report, May 27, 1825. Folio, 
27 pages. 

Bridges, 13 plates. Royal sheet. 

Manuscript Report on Canals, by William Strickland. London, 
Sept. 14, 1825. 

View of Hetton Railway with Locomotive and Stationary En- 
gines. 

Report on the Shrewsbury and Holyhead Road, March 22d, 
1825. Folio, 10 pages. 

Manuscript Report on the manufacture of Roman Cement, ac- 
companied by several specimens of the material from which it is 
made, by J. J.Hawkins. London, October 31, 1825. 

Letter to Mr. Strickland from J. J. Hawkins. London, October 
31, 1825. 

Estimate and Prices for the Masonry of George's Dock. Liver- 
pool. 

Liverpool Dock Accounts, Liverpool, June 24, 1825. 

Rapport et Memoife sur les Ponts suspendus, 4to. Paris, 1823. 

Plates accompanying the above. 

Box of Minerals, containing Iron-ore, Fire-brick clay, specimens 
of Coke of the bituminous coal, &c. &c. 

Duplicate Manuscript Report of William Strickland on Canals, 
&c. 

Duplicate Manuscript Report of William Strickland on Rail- 
ways, Coke, manufacture of Iron, Blister and Cast Steel, Oil and 
Coal Gas, &c. &c. with numerous drawings. 



( 30 ) 

(COPY.) 

MR. STRICKLAND'S INSTRUCTIONS. 



Philadelphia, March 18, 1825. 
William Strickland, E&q. 

Dear Sir. — The Acting Committee of "The Pennsylvania So- 
ciety for the Promotion of Internal Improvement," beg leave to 
call your attention to the general outlines of the duties you will 
have to perform, as the agent of the Society in Europe. 

The objects for the attainment of which the Society have deter- 
mined upon this measure, the execution of which is delegated to 
you, are known to you, and you will constantly have in view 
their accomplishment with your best abilities. The confidence we 
place in your talents and industry, the obligations you will be 
under to obtain, for the heavy expenses attendant on your agency, 
an adequate return^ and the satisfaction, as well as the rewards 
you will yourself have in contributing, by the success of your la- 
bours to the prosperity, wealth, and happiness of your native state 
and of your country^ are ample pledges of the fidelity and dili- , 
gence with which you will execute the duties of the important 
trust. 

You will proceed from this city to Liverpool, taking your pas- 
sage in one of the line of packets from this port, and commencing 
your voyage within the present month. 

As England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, have made more 
progress in the arts and sciences, and have more extensively and 
successfully applied them to internal improvements, yout* obser- 
vations, inquiries and investigations will, in the first portion of 
the time you will be absent, be directed to the great works which 
have been accomplished in those countries. You will afterwards 
proceed to France, Holland and Germany, should any objects of 
sufficient interest exist there, and time shall permit the same. 
Thus we desire it to be distinctly understood, that you will visit 
no other parts of Europe, unless further instructed, than England, 
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Holland, and Germany. 

As a general principle which shall govern you in all your pro- 
ceedings, and as the leading purpcrse in all your pursuits, we wish 
you to understand, distinctly, that all the knowledge and infor- 
mation you can collect, all the facts which you shall become pos- 
sessed of, which may in any manner be connected with your mis- 
sion, must be carefully, accurately, and minutely written down 
and preserved in the form of a diary, or such other record as will en- 
able you to comtnunicate the same to the Society, in memoirs or 
reports, when your duties shall enjoin the same. All the results of 
your inquiries and exertions will be the property of the Society. 



( 31 ) 

Another and equally important rule which we wish you to ob- 
serve and faithfully execute, is the following. 

It is not a knowledge of abstract principles, nor an indefinite 
and general account of their application to the great works of Eu- 
rope, we desire to possess through your labours. These we have 
in books, and your mission would be of little comparative value, 
should you acquire for the Society such information only. What 
we earnestly wish to obtain, is the means of executing all those 
works in the best manner, and with the greatest econoniy and 
certainty; and for these purposes you will procure and exhibit in 
your reports, all that will enable those who shall undertake the 
formation of Canals, Railways, and Roads, and the construction 
of Bridges, to perform the work, without such persons having the 
science by which such works were originally planned and execut- 
ed. To use a term which is familiar to you as an architect, we 
desire to obtain working plans of the best constructed canals, and 
their locks and inclined planes; of railways, and all the means of 
using them to advantage; of roads, and of the mode of their for- 
mation and preservation; and of the construction of bridges. To 
be more definite on this head, we desire that you furnish such mi- 
nute and particular descriptions, plans, drawings, sections, esti- 
mates and directions, as possessed of them, those works may be 
executed in Pennsylvania, without the superintendence of a civil 
engineer of superior skill and science. 

Before we proceed to a particular statement of the subjects for 
your investigations on your mission, we would claim your atten- 
tion to a pledge which has been given by the Society to the public; 
that your first eftbrts shall be directed to railways, and that at as 
early a period as possible you shall communicate all the informa- 
tion you can collect upon them. 

Canals. In your examination of the canals of Europe, we re- 
quest you will always bear in mind the fact that the great capital 
which is ever at the command of those who there undertake such 
works, and the immediate and profitable use to which they 
can be applied^ have induced those who have executed them, to 
regard their cost of less importance than we are compelled to con- 
sider it here. When a work of that kind will produce returns of 
three or four times the rate of interest in the country where it is 
executed, expenditure is of less consequence than with us, where 
the pecuniary means to accomplish any such purposes are collect- 
ed with great diflSculty, and where attempts to execute them fre- 
quently fail from a want of capital. Whatever may be the cer- 
tainty of ultimate profit from any of our canals or roads, we have 
always found obstacles to obtaining funds for their prompt execu- 
tion. In the differences between the cost of labour in England 
and Scotland, and in America, the cheapness of some of the mate- 
rials used in the construction of their public works, and in the fa- 
cilities of transporting those materials which the improved state of 
the country, and the existence of canals and railways in the vici- 



( 32 ) 

nity aftbrd; maybe found many important facts which have mate- 
rially influenced the cost of those works; on the other hand we have 
materials, which may not have been used there on account of 
their scarcity and expense, and which if substituted in our under- 
takings, would materially diminish our expenditures in the forma- 
tion of canals with their locks, and inclined planes. Thus wood 
is in England a most costly article, and hence stone is there gene- 
rally substituted. If wood could be used in the construction of the 
locks of canals, more than two-thirds of their expense would be 
saved, and the execution of niany works of this description in our 
country would be certain. 

With these introductory remarks, which are submitted to your 
candid consideration, we proceed to say, that you will in reference 
to canals inquire and report to the Society upon, 1st. The most 
approved and substantial method of constructing Lock Gates to- 
gether with their valves and sluices. 

2d. The best mode of lining and puddling Aqueducts and Cul- 
verts. 

3d. The best plan for overcoming the difficulty in forming the 
bottom and side banks of a canal through lime stone formations ; 
or formations which are cavernous, porous or soluble in water; par- 
ticularly in deep cutting and in embanking. 

4th. The cost of the work by the cubic yard, stating the parti- 
cular quality and parts thereof. 

5th. The failures in canals; their causes; and other circum- 
stances connected therewith. 

6th. Rock excavation; tunnelling generally, and through gra- 
vel and other loose soil; the use and frequency of shafts; together 
with the best method of removing the materials, and draining the 
work in its progress: the greatest depth of shafts, and how pre- 
served and constructed .? 

7th. The quantum of evaporation and soakage, particularly con- 
sidered, reference being made to the locations, soil and quality of 
the work. 

We also request your attention to the following queries, which 
relate to canals or subjects connected with their use. 

8th. Is there any substitute for locks, now in use in England, 
or on the continent.^ If so, what advantages have they been found 
to possess? 

9th. Is there any information in England concerning the evapo- 
ration of water occasioned in canals by variations of climate? The 
great mining districts of Germany, furnish some very curious re- 
sults as to the evaporation by high winds in the autumn and win- 
ter season. 

Perhaps the canals of the south of France may afford some facts 
on the solar evaporation, in summer. Our climate is so dift'erent 
from that of England, that we must endeavour to obtain data on 
this subject from the continent. 

10th. Are steam boats permitted to navigate any of the canals 



( 33 ) 

in Great Britain. If any, what means have been deviseil to pre- 
vent the destruction of the banks, produced by the motion impart- 
ed to the water? 

11th. Are any of the tunnels in England made through crumb- 
ling rocks? if so, what arch is preferred for their protection? is 
there any case where a complete elipsis has been required, as in 
mines ? 

12th. If a rock is not to be obtained for a foundation for the 
lock walls, do they in every instance pile or construct inverted 
arches, upon which to build their walls; or do they, when they have 
good gravel or slate, rely upon it for a foundation ? If not, may 
not timber laid lengthways be relied on ? When they have not 
rock for the bottom of their locks, do they make an artificial bot- 
tom of stone or wood? 

13th. Do they build their lock walls in straight or curvilinear 
lines? What is the thickness of their lock walls, and are they 
supported by buttresses extending into the banks ? or by giving 
the walls a greater thickness, do they supersede the necessity for 
buttresses? How are their lock walls built — if of cut stone in 
front, how is the backing constructed— whether of common rough 
mason work, or of large stone well fitted together ? What is the 
best kind of cement, and how is it affected by the seasons? How 
soon does it perish ? 

14th. What is the slope of the banks of a canal ? What the 
height of the banks above the surface of the water, particularly the 
towing path side, and its width? 

15th. In very deep shafts, are the workmen affected by the 
gases from the bowels of the earth ? Is there an instance of the 
workmen being driven off by the gases? What proportion does 
the diameter of the shafts bear to their depth ? What distance are 
shafts apart, and is not this regulated by the depth of digging or 
height of the hill? What is the greatest depth a shaft may be 
sunk? 

16th. What kind of river navigation have they above the tide ? 
How is the navigation constructed ? What kind of towing paths 
have they ? What distance are they from the boat channel, and 
when the distance between them is very great, is the power for 
propelling the boat necessarily very much increased ? If so, is it 
in direct proportion to the distance ? 

17th. What kind of gates have they across the towing paths, 
where they pass through different enclosures ? 

18th. In the severe weather in the winter, do they draw the 
water off their canals ? 

19th. Have the frosts of winter, any pernicious effect upon their 
canals, locks, turnpikes and rail-roads ? 

20th. What descent have their canals, or what is the approved 
descent ? What is the greatest acclivity of rail -roads? 

Mr. John Blair of our state, whose communications to the Society 
have alwavs been valuable, has expressed a wish that you should 

5 



( 34 ) 

inquire, whether wooden locks are in use, what length of time 
they will last, and what is the comparative expense between them 
and stone locks? He remarks, and justly, that as our western 
canals must have the greatest portion of their lockage in, and near 
the mountains, where there are inexhaustible forests of timber; 
should timber be useful, and the durability of such locks consi- 
derable, a great saving would be ett'ected. This subject is placed 
in a very interesting position by a letter of Mr. Sellers, which 
we request you will peruse. Like the early settlements of our 
country, we may find it advantageous to be simple and homely in 
our first works, and in time, replace them by others of a superior 
execution and of permanent materials. 

Jiaihvays. — Of the utility of railways and their importance as 
means of transporting large burdens, we have full knowledge. Of 
the mode of constructing them and of their cost nothing is known 
with certainty. Even in England, where railways have been used 
for more than a century, these are subjects of controversy and 
doubt. You will arrive at Liverpool at a peculiarly fortunate era 
in the construction and employment of railways. The great com- 
munication by their means between Manchester and Liverpool,' 
and between Birmingham and Liverpool, will have been com- 
menced, or all the principles and plans, by which they will be 
governed in their construction, will have been settled and de- 
termined. 

We desire that your inquiries in relation to raihvays shall be 
commenced and prosecuted as soon as you arrive, and that as 
speedily as you shall have obtained all the information upon them 
you deem important and sufficient, that you transmit the same to 
us, retaining a duplicate of your report, and of the drawings and 
estimates which may accompany it for illustration. 

You will bear in mind, in your investigations of this subject, 
that we have, as yet, no complete railway in Pennsylvania; and 
you will therefore so exhibit your facts, so that they may be un- 
derstood by reference to the drawings which you may make, and 
which shall accompany your report. 

Commencing in your examinations with the plans observed in 
making surveys and forming the line of the route of the railway; 
it is desired that you ascertain with precision the greatest angles 
of ascent which the profitable use of railways will bear. In our 
mountainous state, if railways shall be adopted, they must pass 
over numerous elevations, some of them abrupt, and many of them 
so formed as to render their reduction impossible. 

The foundations for the reception of the iron rail will next re- 
quire attention. Climate must enter materially into the decision 
upon the question how the foundation of a railway shall be made 
in Pennsylvania; and the differences between the moist and mo- 
derate winters of England, and the deep snows, sudden and hard 
frosts, variable temperature, and long continuance of our winters; 
must have your consideration and attention in these examinations. 



( 35 ) 

Without entering into the subject particularly, but submitting it, 
with great deference, to your consideration, we would remark, 
that if masonry could be avoided in the construction of the foun- 
dation for the iron rails, if wood, however large in size, and great 
in quantity can be employed here, the influence of our climate 
upon the work would be less injurious. Durability of the mate- 
rials would be lost by the use of wood, but the parts might retain 
their form and connection for a long time, and the small expense 
of replacing any part of the work, which might decay, would per- 
haps compensate for the absence of permanent substances in the 
foundation. In relation to the construction and form of the road 
and rails, we desire you to ascertain every mode which is now in 
favourable use in England, Scotland, and Wales. It is said that 
recent improvements have been made in the form and position of 
the rails, and that different forms are used for different purposes. 
How railways are crossed by wagons heavily laden, how wagons 
pass when proceeding in opposite directions, what means are taken 
for the protection of railways from injury by wheels not properly 
constructed to pass upon them, and how the wagons and their car- 
riages are constructed, and of what materials.^ Upon all these 
subjects we ask particular information, accompanied with draw- 
ings which will make the same easily understood and employed. 

The expense of railways will be a subject of careful and parti- 
cular investigation. In your statements under this head you will 
inform us of the separate cost of each part, distinguishing accu- 
rately between the charges for the formation of the line, and the 
preparation of the foundation, and the expense of the materials 
employed. The difference between the cost of labour in England 
and in this country will affect these statements; and it would, 
therefore, be well if you would accompany your report with in- 
formation of the rates of day labour, in the particular parts of the 
country where the railways are located, which may be referred 
to by you. 

Locomotive machinery will command your attention and in- 
quiry. This is entirely unknown in the United States, and we 
authorize you to procure a model of the most approved locomotive 
machine, at the expense of the Society. 

Turnpikes. — On the subject of the improved mode of construct- 
ing roads by Mr. M'Adam, we have, as you know, all that have 
been published. These publications, however, give us rather the 
evidence of the excellence of the roads made upon that plan, than 
a practical and familiar description of the manner in which they 
are executed. A report descriptive of the first preparation and 
arrangement of the ground over which the road is to pass, and 
which is to become the foundation of the stone work; the follow- 
ing steps preparatory to the covering of this with stone; the na- 
ture of the stone to be used; its preparation and the manner in 
which it is applied; the measures adopted to prevent injury to the 
road while in the course of construction; the final completion of 



( 36 ) 

the road and the mode of keeping it in order, with the regulations 
as to its use, particularly the description of carriages or wagons 
used upon it. All these will command and obtain your careful at- 
tention. Should you think the suggestion worthy of your consi- 
deration and adoption, we would propose that you should prepare 
or obtain a memoir on this subject, directory of the course of pro- 
ceeding to construct a M 'Adam's road, so particular, so full, so 
descriptive, so plain, and accompanied with such illustrations by 
drawings, as will enable any good road maker to commence and 
execute the work. 

A person who is perfectly acquainted with M 'Adam's princi- 
ples of road making, who has been accustomed to apply them in 
the construction of roads, and who should bring with him testi- 
monials of character and practical skill, would find employment in 
the United States. The Society will not give a pledge to com- 
pensate such an individual for visiting the United States, but you 
are authorized to assure him that all the patronage and efforts of 
the individual members of the association can do to promote the 
fortunes of such a man will be exerted. 

Gas Lights, The proposed introduction of gas into the City of 
Philadelphia, makes it important that at as early a moment as your 
other duties will permit, you furnish a full report upon this sub- 
ject. What is the best and most economical apparatus.^ What, 
material is preferred, and the reasons for the preference, the cost 
of the material in England, the most approved plan for conduct- 
ing gas from the place of manufacture to where it is used, the em- 
ployment of detached and transportable gasometers or fountains, 
and their cost, and their mode of use, and how all the machinery 
which may be required for the construction of the works and for 
the distribution of gas in Philadelphia can be obtained, and at what 
costs? These are submitted as heads of inquiry. 

Break Waters, The intimate connexion between the com- 
mercial prosperity of our state and its internal improvement, and 
the important advantages which would be consequent on the erec- 
tion of a Breakwater at the mouth of the Bay of Delaware, have 
induced the Society to ask you to procure information, of the most 
approved plan, for .constructing a floating Breakwater. A floating 
Breakwater is said to have withstood the destructive storm which 
lately shook, to its foundations, that which was built of stone at Ply- 
mouth; and as the cost of the former is said to be much less than that 
of the latter, it is desired to obtain a full knowledge of the plan and 
construction of the same; how anchored and sunk, its capacity 
to resist the ocean, and the effect of the same upon it; its cost and 
its competency compared with works of a similar kind, which are 
built of stone and are intended to be immoveable.^ 

Manufacture of Iron. — AVe approach this subject with the deep- 
est impression of its importance, and with a firm conviction that 
the full investigation of it will require more time than you can be- 
stow upon it. We are satisfied that it would yield golden returns, 



( sr ) 

if an agent of competent talents and information, should be exclu- 
sively employed in the investigations and inquiries connected with 
the manufacture of iron in England and Wales. If the wealth of 
England has been correctly ascribed to her iron and her coal, 
Pennsylvania may with equal certainty become the England of the 
New World, in these riches; for she has coal of a quality superior 
to that of her most prosperous rival, and she has great varieties of 
this most valuable mineral; and she has iron ores of every descrip- 
tion and kind which are known in any part of the world. No improve- 
ments have been made here in it within the last thirty years, and the 
use of bituminous and anthracite coal in our furnaces is absolutely 
and entirely unknown. It is said that since the use of mineral 
coal in the making of iron was introduced, England has increased 
the manufacture of this article many thousand fold; and the cost 
of its production has been diminished one-half. 

Attempts, and of the most costly kind, have been made to use 
the coal of the western part of our state in the production of iron. 
Furnaces have been constructed according to the plan said to be 
adopted in Wales and elsewhere ; persons claiming experience in 
the business have been employed, but all has been unsuccessful. 
In large sections of our state ore of the finest quality, coal in the 
utmost abundance, lime-stone of the best kind, lie in immediate 
contiguity, and water power is within the shortest distance of 
these mines of future wealth. The prices which are obtained for 
iron on the western waters are double tliose of England, the de- 
mand is always greater than the supply; and thus nothing but 
knowledge of the art of using these rich possessions is wanted. 

But it is not only in the knowledge of the production of iron, 
that we are behind the country you are about to visit. In the art 
of casting, in making bar-iron, the improved state of knowledge 
you will find in England has given her a superiority, which would 
enable her to command our own market, but for the protection 
the manufactures have in the tariff. 

We desire your attention to the following inquiries on the sub- 
ject of the manufacture of iron. 

1st. What is the most approved and frequent process for cok- 
ing coal, and what is the expense of the process per ton or chal- 
dron? 

2d. In what manner are the arrangements or buildings, if any, 
constructed for the coking of coal, obtaining drawings and pro- 
files thereof. 

3d. Are there different modes of coking coal, and if they have 
any differences in principle, what are they? 

4th. In what manner are the most approved furnaces for the 
smelting of ore constructed? Drawings and sections of the same 
to accompany the information which may be obtained upon this 
inquiry. 

5th. The mode of drawing off the pigs, and the plan adopted 



(38 ) 

for keeping a supply of ores, if peculiar or superior to that used in 
this country. 

6th. The making of castings. Is there any process by which 
castings are made soft^ so that they may be substituted for brass 
or copper, if there is, what is that process? 

7th. What is the most approved construction of a foundry, and 
what the most approved mode of casting.^ Drawings, profiles, and 
minute descriptions to accompany the information you may col- 
lect upon these inquiries. 

8th. What is the most approved mode of making bar iron, and 
what is the most approved machinery used in the same.^ drawings, 
profiles, and a description of the same are requested. 

9th. Is the Anthracite coal used in any processes for making or 
using iron? If it is, all the information of the mode of its use 
will be of the greatest importance. 

10th The best mode of making steel? Where is it made, from 
what quality of iron? How the English blister is prepared, the 
process for its production, does it require a peculiar kind of iron, 
or does the quality of the best steel depend exclusively on the 
mode of carbonating the iron? 

11th. At what stage of the process of converting bar iron into 
steel, does the agency of the coke commence. Is charcoal used 
in any of the processes for making steel? When, how, and to what 
extent is it used, if at all? 

12th. What is the construction of a furnace for making steel 
upon the best and most approved principles? What time is re- 
quired to convert a given quantity of iron into steel? The degree 
of heat, the material from which the iron absorbs the carbon, how. 
prepared? 

13th. What proportion of the English bar iron is made at present 
by rolling, and what by hammering? What is the opinion of en- 
lightened practical men as to the comparative merits of each? 

14th. Has the English iron been so far improved, as to admit of 
its being used in the manufacture of cast steel in competition with 
the Swedish? If so, from what ore is it obtained, and by what pro- 
cess? Is the coke of bituminous coal used in this process? 

We submit for your prudent consideration, some suggestions on 
the subject of these inquiries, assuming the fact that they cannot 
be prosecuted by you to the full extent. We are willing, on 
the part of the Society, to authorize you to expend, in obtaining 
all the information which they seek for, the sum of one hundred 
pounds sterling. This sum might induce some individual to pro- 
secute in detail the investigations, and collect the information so 
much desired. This will not be an unprofitable expenditure by 
the Society. But one gentleman interested in the manufacture of 
iron is a member of the Society, and we shall take care to re- 
imburse the Society from among those who manufacture this 
great staple of the state, before we communicate what you sliall 
transmit to us. 



( 39 ) 

You are aware of the importance which is here attached to the 
use of anthracite coal in the smelting of iron. To the eastern 
portion of our state full and accurate knowledge of this art, if it 
exists in Ireland or England, would be productive of the richest 
results. Should you find that anthracite coal is in use in making 
iron from the ore, and any one, with perfect skill in the art, and 
of good character, will come to this country for the purpose of ob- 
taining employment in the making of iron with the anthracite coal; 
you may agree that his passage to Philadelphia shall be paid by 
the Society, and you may give him every assurance of further pa- 
tronage. 

Rollers of Cast Iron, — How are they cast and hardened.'^ 

Rollers of Brass or Copper for Calico Printing, — There is a 
patent for making these. Endeavour to get at it, and acquire 
all the information which will enable one skilled in the art, to cast 
them here. This is to be the subject of a special report, accom- 
panied with a model, if you can procure one. 

Machinery/. — Useful machines of all kinds will command your 
attention. Those which can be employed in connection with ca- 
nals and roads will be of the highest importance. The letter of 
Professor Keating, suggests inquiries on the subject of steam boats 
used for canals. These may become very important here, and 
steam boats with small draughts of water will be required for 
some of our rivers, if they shall be made navigable by dams. 

The letter of Thomas Butler, Esq, suggests for inquiry, the mode 
for diffusing heat in vessels. That of Mr. Sellers, to the best ma- 
chine for preparing and dressing flax. We beg your attention to 
these subjects. As you have the aid of Mr. Kneass, your pupil, 
we have less hesitation in claiming from you frequent communi- 
cations of your progress and success. These, if favourable to the 
purposes of you agency, will give confidence to the members of 
the Society, and they will also justify our claims on the citizens of 
Pennsylvania, to aid us by pecuniary contributions. You may 
rely on the exercise of a careful and guarded discretion in mak- 
ing public, by means of the press, the contents of your corres- 
pondence. To the members of the Society your communications 
will always be open, but their publication in any other form, will 
be the result of proper deliberation. 

During your absence we shall have frequent occasions to com- 
municate with you. We shall forward all our letters to Messrs. 
Curwen and Hagarty of Liverpool, and we would suggest that you, 
at all times, place with them your address, and through them, by 
our Pliiladelphia packets, communicate with us, directed to the 
Corresponding Secretary. 

By the resolution of the Society, passed on the 3d of February 
last, you were appointed the Agent of the Society, to proceed to 
Europe, for the purpose of prosecuting the inquiries stated in your 
instructions. Your compensation for an absence of twelve months 
on the duties assigned to you, is to be !g 2500, of which 400/. ster- 



( 40 ) 

ling shall be placed to your credit in England, at par, and the 
residue of this sum to be paid to you or your order here. 

In your instructions you are authorized to expend one hundred 
pounds sterling for obtaining correct information relative to smelt- 
ing iron ore, and the improved manufactory of iron. 

The Society, by a resolution adopted at the meeting held on 
the 17th March, instant, have authorized you to expend one 
hundred pounds sterling, for memoirs, publications, models, 
drawings of useful machines, and authentic information on all 
subjects which are important in this country. 

You will take due notice of these appropriations, and we beg 
leave to recommend a judicious economy in the expenditure of 
this money, and that you keep an accurate account of the same, 
which you will render to the Treasurer of the Society. 

The arrangements in relation to the funds to be placed at your 
disposal in England, and the payments to be made here, are left 
with the Treasurer, Mr. White, who will attend to the same. 

We desire an acknowledgment of the receipt of these instruc- 
tions, and your assent to the same. With every wish for your 
success in the performance of the important duties assigned to you, ' 
and of a happy and safe return to your family and friends, we are 
with great esteem and respect, 

Your obedient servants, , 

MATHEW CAREY, -| ^^ j^ . 

RICHARD PETERS, Jun. M«^^»«^J. ^J 
JOSEPH HEMPHILL, f 7?^ ^mng- 
STEPHEN DUNCAN, J ^<^^^^"f^^- 

Attest, 
Gerard Ralston, Corresponding Secretary. 



Extract of a letter addressed to Williain Strickland^ Esq, on the 

19th Sept. 1825. 

" Canals and Railways present the most important of all sub- 
jects for your attention. Upon every matter connected with both, 
you will be expected to be well informed; and if you shall have to 
clecide between them, you must be able to furnish the facts and 
circumstances by which the decision shall be produced. Much 
excitement prevails in this State upon the question whether Rail- 
ways are superior to Canals; and the inquiries which are in pro- 
gress in relation to them, are in the hands of men of ingenuity and 
well disposed to the cause of Internal Improvement. It is how- 
ever feared by many, that the question between Canals and Rail- 
ways will have an injurious influence in Pennsylvania, as it will 
divide the friends of the cause of improvement, and thus postpone, 



( *1 ) 

if not prevent the commencement of the great work. The impor- 
tance of correct information in relation to them is thus greatly 
increased. 

'* Those who have not had the same opportunities of testing the 
advantages of the mode of transportation which you now prefer, 
will pause, unless you furnish facts and arguments of an entirely 
conclusive character. 

" Do you contemplate confining Railways to the transportation 
of goods and merchandise? or do you propose they shall also be 
employed for the carriage of passengers ? If both, must there not 
be not only a double Railway for the merchandise, but also a 
double Railway for passengers? If these are to be formed, will 
not the expense of a Railway be very considerable, say, if iron is 
at d6l4 per ton — not less than £8000 sterling per mile. Ought 
wood to be used as the foundation for the rails, thereby reducing 
the size of the rails, as has been suggested by some persons ? 

'' Do you contemplate the use of Locomotive Engines on Rail- 
ways in Pennsylvania f 

" Have you considered the difficulties and obstructions w^hich 
the necessity to use steam engines to overcome ascents will pro- 
duce; as these machines will require engineers and skill to use 
them, and to repair them; and many of them must be located in 
the midst of mountains, far from settlements, and equally distant 
from the habitations of those who are competent to repair them ? 

*' The present establishments in the United States for the mak- 
ing of iron find a market, for all the iron they make, at high prices. 
Pig iron at Pittsburg is 40 dollars per ton. Bar iron, 125 dollars 
per ton. Would not the demand for iron for a railway from Phi- 
ladelphia to Pittsburg increase the price, and could that demand 
be supplied within a reasonable time? 

" These propositions are not suggested as insurmountable dif- 
ficulties, but as specimens of the matters which will be inquired 
of you when you return. It is not for the Pennsylvania Society 
to adopt a preference for any particular plan of improvement, or 
to discourage investigation. Its object is the improvement of the 
state by the best plan; and, this accomplished, the members will 
be fully compensated for their contributions towards the same." 

To the Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Im- 
provement in the Commonwealth. 

Gentlemen, 
The queries proposed to me by the Acting Committee, respect- 
ing rail-roads, contained in a letter of the corresponding secreta- 
ry, dated September 19, 1825, have been duly considered by me, 
and, although I am urged to furnish facts and arguments respect- 
ing them of an entirely conclusive character, I must be excused 
from any intention to offer opinions which may have a tendency 
to excite or divert the public from improving the State upon 
the most judicious plan:— I am assured it is not the object of the 

6 



( 42 ) 

Society to give a preference to any particular plan of improvement, 
or to discourage investigation. 

If an extensive railway should be proposed in Pennsylvania, it 
ought to be a double line of edge-rail, and calculated for the use 
of locomotive engines; for with them only as the moving power, 
consists any decided advantage over other modes of conveyance ; 
I would form this double line of rail-road, at least 10 feet apart, 
making it as nearly level as possible, or at any rate not to exceed 
1-lOth of an inch rise in the yard. It should be constructed for 
the transportation of goods, merchandise, and lumber of all kinds. 

If the country through which the road has to pass be undulating, 
or hilly, I would seek a level, to its greatest extent, by winding 
round the hills, cutting through them, or tunnelling, which ever 
might prove, from accurate survey, to be the best and most expe- 
dient: I would avoid the frequent construction oi inclined planes, 
with fixed engines, and carry the level or slightly inclined road as 
far as possible in successive platforms, or level stages, without as- 
suming a higher level, until it became necessary to overcome a 
lift of not less than 50 feet at once; this would of course, depend 
upon the nature of the ground upon which a second extensive level. 
could be established; and so on, carefully avoiding all small lifts 
by inclined planes: — I must here be permitted to remark, that this 
plan does not differ much from that pursued in the location of a 
Canal; and that it will be admitted to be evidently cheaper to cut ' 
through a hill or form a tunnel for the passage of a rail -road, than 
for that of a canal; and again there is no country, however its sur- 
face may be varied, but what will afford as many facilities for the 
execution of the one, as the other: — If therefore a succession of 
level platforms, or stages of rail-road be established, and locomo- 
tive engines are made to ply upon each stage, it may be practically 
proved that there can be no greater difficulty in producing a tran- 
sit of the same quantity of goods or merchandise, at the rate of six 
miles an hour, than is usually conveyed upon a canal at one-third 
that speed:— 'It is mainly from the application of steam to ma- 
chinery as the motive power, that a decided advantage is to be 
gained in the transportation of goods upon rail-roads; and if 
speed is at all desirable, then, they are the best means by which it 
can be certainly, and most economically obtained: — The practical 
efficiency of the locomotive engine, and its superiority over horses 
working upon Canals, was fully proved by the evidence adduced 
before the committe of the House of Commons, on the Liverpool 
and Manchester Railway bill. 

The stationary engine and inclined plane afford equally as 
speedy and simple a mode of communication between two level 
stages, and may be constructed with a lift of fifty feet in a thou- 
sand feet, for half the sum ixiquired to overcome the same eleva- 
tion by lockage. Engines require, perhaps, more skill in attend- 
ance and repairs, than locks; and this may be urged as an argu- 
ment against their use, "in the midst of the mountains in Penn- 
sylvania, far from the settlements and habitations of persons who 



( *3 ) 

may be competent to repair them ;" to this objection, I will only 
add that the management and repairs of locks and their sluices, 
in the same situations, would be attended with nearly the same 
difficulties: but I take it for granted that there must be an atten- 
dant to either species of machinery who properly understands the 
subject. The extra power of the stationary steam engine, may 
be employed for manufacturing purposes^ such as grinding grain, 
sawing timber, &c. &c. If wood be used as the foundation for 
the rails, its depth in order to afford sufficient strength for the sup- 
port of a great weight, would be calculated to elevate the rails too 
high above the surface of the road, to allow a sufficient discharge 
for the rain water under them; and if the rails be reduced in size, 
and inserted in the wood, or bolted to it, it would be impractica- 
ble to give them an equal and uniform bearing throughout their 
whole length; and they would from this cause inevitably break; 
it is most essential that the ends only of the rail should bear; and 
hence a proportionate weight and strength of metal should be given 
to the intermediate parts. 

I have no doubt but a demand for iron sufficient to form a rail- 
way from Philadelphia to Pittsburg would increase its price con- 
siderably in Pennsylvania; and that there would be a great disad- 
vantage experienced from the impossibility of the state being able 
to supply that demand within a reasonable period of time. 

Various propositions may be suggested as untried and insur- 
mountable difficulties^ in the management and conduct of rail- 
roads, because they have never yet been used as a means of gene- 
ral or distant intercommunication ; these are only to be understood 
by the fact, that they have been satisfactorily proved, upon a small 
scale, comparatively speaking: but they have been practically ap- 
plied to varied surfaces of country, and there nov/ appears in Eng- 
land, to be a strong confidence among men of intelligence and ca- 
pital, that there is in this country a necessity for a general exten- 
sion of their advantages to facilitate the operations of trade and 
commerce. 

It will be admitted, however, that there are situations where 
canals cannot be formed; and where, if formed, they may be ruin- 
ous and abortive experiments ; but these can rarely occur with rail- 
ways properly constructed : a railway will always be, at least, a 
road. In making the foregoing observations, I do not wish to be 
understood, as the champion of this species of conveyance, in op- 
position to the known advantages of canals; but simply as express- 
ing in common with others, an honest opinion derived from a per- 
sonal investigation q{ facts, which may be presumed to have been 
exhibited, perhaps, upon too small a scale in England, to admit of 
an unequivocal recommendation to your society, or the people of 
Pennsylvania, as the subject oi preference or experiment. 

I enclose you the report of the committee of the Birmingham 
and Liverpool Railway Company, in which you will perceive the 
causes which have produced a delay in the ^execution of their 



( 44 ) 

work; and the confidence they still maintain of its high national 
importance. 

Respectfully submitted by your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM STRICKLAND. 



Liverpool, October 20, 1825. 



Engineer. 



Report of the Committee of the Birmingham and Liverpool Rail- 
way Company. 
[Referred to in the preceding letter of Mr. Strickland.] 

The Committee of the intended Birmingham and Liverpool 
Railway Company^ regretting that unforeseen circumstances have 
hitherto prevented their addressing the Subscribers, deem it in- 
cumbent on them now to state, that in conformity with the instruc- 
tions and powers given to the Committee, they caused a Line of 
Railway to be surveyed from Birmingham to Liverpool, with 
Branch Lines to Chester and the Staffordshire Potteries; and 
the requisite preliminary measures having, after great exer- 
tions and labour, been completed, a Petition for leave to bring in 
a Bill to effect the objects of the Company was presented to the 
House of Commons early in the last Session. The Petition expe- 
rienced great opposition, originating in causes which cannot fail 
to be readily understood and appreciated by the Subscribers; and 
after a protracted struggle of three weeks, in the Committee to 
which the Bill was referred, and in the Select Standing-Order 
Committee, (a circumstance altogether new in the annals of Par- 
liament,) the Petition was rejected, upon the alleged ground of 
the omission of a single Township in the Notices, although the 
Parish in which such Township was locally situated was regularly 
inserted therein. 

The promoters of the Bill were thus precluded the opportunity 
of demonstrating before Parliament the utility and practicability 
of their undertaking, an opportunity which they had a right to ex- 
pect would not have been objected to by their opponents, who 
uniformly asserted that the plans of the intended Company were 
fallacious and impracticable. 

The Committee have, however, great satisfaction in stating that 
the practical efficiency of the Locomotive Engine, and its superi- 
ority over horses working upon Canals, was fully proved by the 
evidence adduced before the Committee of the House of Commons 
on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill. 

The inquiries also which the Committee have made, and the 
additional information which they have obtained in pursuing the 
objects of the company, convince them they can redeem the pledge 
originally given; namely, that the railway, when completed, will 
effect a more direct, expeditious, and cheap means of communi- 
cation than at present exists for the transportation of produce and 
merchandise between Birmingham, Liverpool, Chestei-, and the 



( *5 ) 

Potteries, aflfording at the same time a liberal remuneration to the 
proprietors. And further, the Committee have no hesitation in 
asserting, that as a part of a great and direct line of communica- 
tion from London to Liverpool, and thence to Ireland, their un- 
dertaking is peculiarly an object of National Importance, inde- 
pendent of the consideration that every new or improved mode of 
conveyance is, in itself, a legitimate object of public interest. 
They cannot omit also to bring under the consideration of the sub- 
scribers the fact, that the proposed application of this new prin- 
ciple of transit has already operated most beneficially by the gieat 
alterations and improvements which have been projected in differ- 
ent canals, exposed to the competition of railways, and in none 
more strikingly than in the instance of the Birmingham Canal, 
where, in addition to the decision of the Company to improve 
their line from Birmingham to Wolverhampton, at an expense of 
upwards of ^ 100,000, they have, with a view of opening a more 
direct communication with Liverpool, projected the formation of 
a new proprietary to cut a canal from Wolverhampton to Nant- 
wich, a distance of about forty miles, upon or near the very line 
of the proposed railway, thereby giving a direct negative to the 
assertion of the opponents of the railway, that the present lines 
of transit are sufficient. 

Convinced, therefore, of the utility and practicability of their 
undertaking, and of its high national importance, convinced also 
that the expectations of advantage which have been held out to the 
Proprietors will be fully realized, the Committee have felt it their 
duty to decide upon renewing their application to Parliament the 
next Session; with which view they are prosecuting the necessary 
measures, and they have great satisfaction in stating to the Sub- 
scribers that they possess ample funds for the purpose. 

The Committee, since the rejection of the petition by the Com- 
mittees of the House of Commons, have been engaged in making 
up the Accounts of the Undertaking, and have prepared a full 
statement of the receipts and expenditure. The Subscribers are 
informed it may be inspected on application to the Solicitor, or the 
London Agents, or to the Chairman of the respective Local Com- 
mittees. 

The Committee have further the satisfaction of stating, that the 
delay which has been thus imposed upon them, will, in some de- 
gree, prove of advantage to the measure ; as it has afforded the 
Committee an opportunity of re-surveying their intended line, 
and of adopting such improvements as may be suggested by able 
and experienced Engineers. 

Upon a review, therefore, of the whole proceedings, the Com- 
mittee cannot doubt but they shall now succeed in laying down a 
Line of Railway, the evident advantages of which cannot fail to 
insure the sanction of Parliament. 

Birmingham, Sept. 23, 1825. 



OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 

FOR 1826. 



President. 
JOHN SERGEANT. 

Vice Presidents. 

MATHEW CAREY, 
PAUL BECK, JuN. 
THOMAS BIDDLE. 

Treasurer. 
JOHN WHITE. 

Recording Secretary. 
ABRAHAM SHOEMAKER. 

Corresponding Secretary. 
GERARD RALSTON. 

Acting Committee. 

MATHEW CAREY, 
RICHARD PETERS, Jun. 
LEVETT HARRIS, 
ABRAHAM SHOEMAKER, 
JOSIAH RANDALL. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



lllllllll ili III mil mil nil III 
028 130 755 1 



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